Peter rubbed his eyes. His head was pounding. This was the let down after the rush. Exhausted did not even begin to cover it.
Sally lay on a gurney. Apart from the restraints and the IV dripping it's chemical cocktail into her system, she looked peaceful. The threat she'd posed a short time ago was almost impossible to imagine. And yet with a look she'd shut off his mind as easily as flipping a switch. And just as effortlessly she had turned Olivia against him.
Walter and Astrid were working her over. Hooking her up to one of Walter's infernal machines. Sensors and wire sprouted from her head. Business as usual.
For his part in this madness, he was calibrating the computer. The read out started, transmitting the signals from sensors, drawing the line that indicated her brain activity. It rose and fell in sharp valleys and peeks. He glanced back at her. She appeared to be unconscious but the readings said otherwise.
"Walter, are you sure she's under?"
Walter looked up from his work. "Of course, Peter. Why do you ask?"
"According to this she's awake as I am." Which wasn't saying much.
"Don't be silly." he said. "I gave her enough Ethallobarbital to put a man twice her size into a coma."
Of course he did. "Has the concept of overdose never occurred to you?"
"You needn't worry about that, my boy." Walter smiled broadly. "I have a great deal of experience in these matters."
"You got me there." Peter looked back down at the readout. It was still doing it's wild dance. "But her brain activity doesn't say drug induced coma to me."
Walter came over. "You're right Peter," he was memorized by the stream of data. "This is extraordinary activity given the level of sedation."
"Any chance, Sally is just playing opossum?" That was a disquieting thought. Peter found himself glancing over at the girl.
"No," Walter said. "It is however probable that her brain functions at a much higher level than what we consider normal." His voice dropped revealing irritation. "Of course it would have been extremely helpful to have a reading of her brain wave patterns prior to the introduction of the drugs, for comparison."
"If you remember, she was less than cooperative."
"Yes," Walter frowned. "she doesn't seem to appreciate the fact that I am simply trying to help her."
"She can read your mind."
He shouldn't have said that.
Tears welled in Walter's eyes. "She called me a monster." His voice broke pitifully and his face fell apart, "Is it true, Peter? Am I a monster?"
Peter shook his head. "No, Walter." He put his hand on his father's cheek. In these moments he seemed so much like a child."Let's see what we can do to help Sally."
"Thank you, son." Walter smiled, covering Peter's hand with his own. "I best help Atroid finish hooking her up. The sooner we figure out what make's Sally tick the better."
Walter went eagerly back to work.
Peter closed his eyes and leaned back in the chair. He didn't know he'd fallen asleep until he was waking up to the sound of Olivia's voice.
"Hey," She said.
He opened his eyes to see her standing beside him.
"Hey." He said back. "How are you doing?"
Stupid question. It was obvious just looking at her. Olivia's mental tango with Sally had shaken her far more than she would ever admit.
She watched as Walter and Astrid continued to wire Sally like a transistor radio."I wanted to let her go."
"It's mind control." He said."You couldn't help it."
"That wouldn't have been much of a comfort..."
Something changed in her face. Her eyes glistened. Peter stood without thinking and put his arms around her, drawing her to him. Sally certainly was racking up her share of emotional casualties.
"I could have killed you."
"That wasn't you." He said. She was trembling now. Walter and Astrid were looking at them. Walter smiled like a school boy watching a peep show.
"Come on," Peter said "I'll buy you a cup of coffee."
Olivia stared out the window at the passing traffic."I was trying to escape." The sky was beginning to lighten above the roof tops. "I was so desperate, I would have done anything to get away." She paused and looked at him.
He gave her a smile. "Believe me I could tell."
The waitress came with their coffee, momentarily killing the conversation. When the woman left, Peter sipped his coffee and waited.
Olivia turned her cup, thoughtfully. "Sally is dangerous." she said finally.
"We backed her into a corner." Peter said. "She was trying to survive. Would you or I have done any differently?"
She met his gaze, her eyes were haunted.
"When I was under her influence." She said searching for understanding. "She wasn't forcing me to do the things I did."
That unsettled him."What do you mean?"
"She didn't have to," Olivia put her knuckles to her mouth. Her hand was shaking. "Because I wasn't really me any more."
He was reaching for her when she pulled herself together. Seeming to put the emotions that were tearing her apart back in the box she kept them in. She stopped him with a subtle shake of the head. She may as well have built a concrete wall between them.
"I'm fine." She said.
He settled back, knowing damn well she wasn't, but playing the game. "So, what are you saying? This is more than mind control?"
Olivia nodded.
It sounded ridiculous in his head. He said it anyway. "Body snatching?"
"I was there, fully aware, thinking, feeling. But not as myself." She paused struggling to find the words. "It was as if in some way I had become Sally." She said finally.
"Maybe that's a good thing." He smiled.
"Why?"
"You know how to handle yourself in a fight. Sally doesn't, she hesitated. That's probably why I'm still here."
Olivia considered his words, again turning the steaming cup. "This girl is more powerful than we can imagine." She closed her eyes as if reaching deep for resolve. "Peter," She said. "If Walter can't figure out how to undo whatever has been done to her..." She let it trail off.
He knew well enough what she'd meant. "She spends the rest of her life in a drug induced coma." The disgust rose in his voice. "Locked away in some Massive Dynamic warehouse."
He saw the pain of a memory coming to the surface. It lived in Olivia's eyes for a moment before she put it down forcefully. "She's been in our heads. She may already know everything we do. We can't risk that information falling into the wrong hands."
Given what Olivia was clearly thinking it was hard to blame Sally for freaking out. "We are talking about a human being." The anger was there now, refusing to be repressed.
She looked away. "What choice do we have?"
He rubbed his brow. What choice did they ever have? He let it go for now changing focus.
"So what are we talking here, Cortexaphan?"
Olivia tasted her coffee then set it back down. "She's too young for the trials your father and Bell were conducting."
That bitter pill. How many times would he have to swallow it? "It's possible someone else is carrying on the work."
"ZFT." She said.
"It's got the ear marks."
"Or Massive Dynamic."
"The other shark in the pool." He said. "There is something else. Starlight Industries. That place is not right."
"I noticed." She said. "I'll check into in the morning."
The sun was already up, morning had come as they talked. Olivia pinched her the bridge of her nose between thumb and forefinger.
"You look tired." Peter said.
"So do you."
"This is just sleep deprivation." He said. "I didn't play body swap with Sally."
"I'm fine." She lied. "And it wasn't a body swap."
"Sure." He said. "Still, I think you should go home, get some sleep." He was using the disarming, persuasive smile. "I'll go back to the lab and check on the kids."
To his amazement she nodded. "Alright, deal." she said. "But just for a couple of hours."
She was walking through the stacks of wreaked cars. It was all too familiar. She looked around. Then she saw it. That lovely Kayak, floating above the ground. It drifted low overhead. Olivia reached up and ran her fingers along the bottom of the smooth hull as she passed beneath it. It was almost as if she blinked and John was there.
It was a good dream now. Olivia smiled in her sleep.
John took her into his arms. She kissed him, pulling his face close. It was so wonderful to touch him, to feel him against her.
"God, I missed you." she closed her eyes and pressed her face to his cheek, loving the moment.
"I'm always here for you, Liv." He said.
But it wasn't John's voice. She opened her eyes. Peter was in her arms, looking at her with that smile.
She sat up in bed pulling the covers to her neck. The impressions of the dream were still with her, as vivid in her conscious mind as they had been in her subconscious. she shuttered. Her phone rang, jarring her.
